Getting the secret in — without letting it out.
Before an exam can be verifiable, the question paper has to reach hundreds/thousands of devices inside a sealed exam-center — offline, at scale, without leaking on the way. Our foundational patent solves exactly that.
A secure way to hand a secret to many offline machines at once
How do you deliver confidential data — such as a question paper — onto a fleet of devices that are deliberately kept offline and locked down, inside a physically secured location, so the data is never exposed in transit and reaches only the intended devices?
1 · Lock the devices down first
Each distributor (invigilator) and each exam device (candidate) runs in a secure mode: a single application, every other function locked — the machine can do nothing but take part in the secured exchange.
2 · Authorise only when physically close
Systems connect only over short-range proximity links and must present matching credentials before the secret is handed over — proximity is part of the authentication, not merely the transport.
3 · Deliver to each verified device
The distributor (invigilator) detects each exam device in proximity, authenticates it, and delivers the encrypted paper — repeating across the fleet (of candidate devices), entirely offline, inside the secured area.
In-venue device trust
Two devices exchange data only when physically co-present and credential-matched.
Works with RF jammers switched on
In near-field embodiments, delivery doesn’t depend on the radio environment — centres can jam phones without disrupting the exam-data hand-off.
No hall-wide signal
A physically-mated or near-field exchange stays confined to the paired devices — nothing room-wide to intercept. The payload is encrypted regardless of link.
Scope note: the ability to work with RF jammers switched on, and the no-broadcast property, describe the patent’s wired and near-field embodiments; the specification also permits radio-based links.
Verify. Don’t trust.
CORTEX turns an examination into evidence you can check yourself. Instead of asking students, parents and courts to trust that an exam was fair, it is designed to produce cryptographic proof that lets them verify it — with a phone, without anyone’s permission.
LINK 01 · The paper you opened
A signed record of the exact question form presented to that candidate, released only at the scheduled start.
LINK 02 · The answers you sealed
Each response signed and hash-linked into a sealed journal the moment it is submitted, so the set is fixed at source.
LINK 03 · The score you were given
A published result that traces cryptographically back to the same sealed journal — and to nothing else.
Bound together, they police each other. A tampered answer, a swapped question paper or an edited response breaks the chain visibly.
Signed
Each record carries a cryptographic signature — origin and integrity independently checkable.
Sealed
Responses hash-linked into a sealed journal at submission; altering one entry breaks the visible link to the next.
Witnessed
Independent observers countersign the records — no single operator holds the record alone.
Published
Compact fingerprints are published openly, so the record can’t be quietly rewritten after the fact.
The same core, in any exam mode
Offline tablets
Sealed devices in the hall, no live network needed.
CBT centres
Computer-Based Test halls.
Secure browser
Locked-down delivery on managed machines.
Hybrid & pen-paper
Mixed deployments; pen-and-paper exams supported alongside CBTs.
Watch: CORTEX — a NEAT Solution — More films on the home page →
See CORTEX run an exam.
A working demonstration says more than any page. Closed-door briefings and live demonstrations for examination boards, institutions and evaluators — full technical disclosure under NDA.
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